LEAD ME ON by Julie Ortolon (find a book to read TXT) 📕

“Maybe you can try again,” Rory offered hopefully. “I mean, at this point, what do you have to lose? You’re already miserable.”

“True,” she admitted.

“Courage and love and trust just take practice, that’s all. It’ll get easier for both of you, if you’ll give it a chance.”

She studied her sister, envying her faith in life. “I’ll think about it.”

“Good.” Rory nodded.

“Right now, though”—Alli picked up her sister’s overnight case and held it out to her—“you have a plane to catch.”

“That I do.” Rory’s wedding-day glow returned as she gathered the bouquet she’d decided was too pretty to leave behind.

The others were waiting outside when they stepped onto the veranda. Rory and Chance kissed Lauren goodbye before reluctantly handing the baby over to her grandparents. On the lawn, Paige passed out birdseed, telling everyone to form a line between the house and the limo Mr. Chancellor had hired.

“Alli!” Rory called.

She turned and saw her sister at the top of the stairs, looking at her intently, as if willing her to be happy. Then she glanced down at the bouquet and her lips curved.

“Rory, no—” Before the words were even out, the bouquet was arching through the air with a flutter of ribbons. Alli lifted her arms on reflex, and the flowers landed in her hands. She couldn’t help but shake her head at her stubbornly optimistic sister.

The couple dashed through a hail of birdseed for the waiting limo, then waved out the back window as the car drove away.

“So,” Aunt Viv said, nodding toward the bouquet, “does Aurora know something the rest of us don’t?”

“No. It’s just her way of telling me not to give up.”

“Sage advice,” Vivian said as they climbed the steps to go inside. The Chancellors gathered up Lauren’s things and said their goodbyes. Bobby and Paige stayed long enough to help clean up, then headed out as well.

“The house seems so empty with no guests,” Allison said, staring about the music room.

“Well, we have two couples checking in tomorrow,” Adrian said. “Until then, I plan to collapse on the sofa and watch football. Aunt Viv, you care to join me?”

“As long as I can put my feet up.” Vivian glanced at her Louis Vuitton pumps.

The phone in the office rang as they started for the back stairs. “I’ll get it,” Allison said. “You two go on.”

Absently twirling the bouquet, she headed for the office. “Pearl Island Inn.”

“Allison?” a youthful voice asked. “Hi, it’s Chloe.”

“Chloe?” Her heart skipped a beat.

“You’re not still mad at me, are you?”

“Of course not. I was never mad at you.” A thousand thoughts flew through her mind: the girl had run away again, or Scott was hurt, in the hospital, dead. “What is it, though? Has something happened?”

“Nothing much. Mom let me go to soccer camp this summer, and that was really cool, but now I’m back in school, which is as boring as ever.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, Uncle Scott asked me to call and let you know he’ll be on TV this afternoon and he wants you to watch.”

“On TV?” Alli’s heart started pounding. Did he also want a second chance? But why would he have his niece call for him?

“Yeah, some interview on a news station in Houston. Hang on, he made me write it down.”

Allison listened numbly as the girl rattled off the time and local channel number for Galveston.

“You got it?” the girl asked.

“Yes, twelve noon on KSET.” She checked her watch and saw the time was already past eleven-thirty.

“Then, after you watch it, if you want to call him, here’s his phone number.”

“Hang on.” Allison’s hand shook as she grabbed a pen and wrote the number down, surprised to see it was a Galveston exchange. Was he still at the beach house?

“I guess that’s it,” Chloe said. “Before I go, I just wanna say I miss spending time with all of you.”

Allison’s eyes stung. “We miss you too, sweetie.”

“I think Uncle Scott misses you, too. He sounds really sad.”

Alli pressed a hand to her lips.

“Well, I better let you go.” Chloe sighed.

“Okay. Take care.” She turned the phone off and sank to the chair, afraid her legs would buckle. Several minutes passed as she stared into space, dazed. Had Scott stayed in Galveston to be near her? If so, why hadn’t he called? She glanced at her watch and realized how much time had passed.

Jumping up, she raced downstairs, holding the circlet of roses in place. Adrian and her aunt sat side by side on the sofa, their feet on the coffee table, eating wedding cake and drinking champagne as they watched the pre-game show.

Allison snatched the controls from her brother and started switching channels.

“Alli! What are you doing?” Adrian demanded. “The Cowboys were about to kick off.”

“Sorry, sorry. But I have to watch this.” She took a seat in the big armchair, clutching the controls in one hand, Rory’s bouquet in the other as the image of Keshia Prescott filled the screen.

“Good day, and welcome to a very special edition of Book Talk.” The pretty news anchor smiled into the camera. “Earlier this week, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting with suspense author Scott Lawrence at his family’s beach house in Galveston about his upcoming release, In Deep. Lawrence has a reputation for being intensely private and enigmatic, so I was surprised when the afternoon turned into one of the most candid interviews I’ve done.” Turning in her chair, she nodded toward a screen beside her. “Watch.”

The camera zoomed in on the screen as the taped interview began to play. Allison could barely breathe as she found herself back in the white den. Keshia sat in a chair before the windows with the swimming pool and beach behind her, while Scott sat on the very sofa where they’d made love. The memory of what they’d done on that sofa made her cheeks heat, but she brushed that aside as she took in Scott.

He’d trimmed his beard so it once again looked the way it had when she’d